The future is omni-channel

01/11/2016

New Zealanders are more connected than ever before – 94% check the internet daily and a third of kiwis are constantly connected, according to the latest Internet NZ study. Customers have high expectations of their interactions with businesses – the digital experience needs to be secure, convenient, consistent and engaging. At the same time, new business models are disrupting traditional enterprise businesses.

To remain relevant in this new environment, companies need to be responsive, and to place customer experience and engagement front and centre. Digital transformation can be a real opportunity to gain first mover advantage, but to maximise this opportunity, businesses must be flexible and agile. They need to be able to adapt and change at pace.

NZ businesses and digital transformation

Many NZ businesses are already on the journey, reports IDC’s Adam Dodds at a recent Theta hosted executive lunch series. 61% of NZ C-level executives surveyed in the IDC Asia/Pacific C-Suite Barometer Research 2016 already have a digital transformation budget in place. This “digital budget” can be “off balance sheet” - a proportion of spend that allows businesses to innovate and explore new business models and measures of success.

37% of executives surveyed believe digital transformation will help them stay competitive and relevant, 38% say it will help them to compete differently, and 25% are already seeing growth in market share as a result of digital.

Customer-centric

Another shift recognised by IDC is the increasing importance placed on customer experience and engagement – supplanting sales and marketing initiatives to take the #3 spot, after operational efficiency and cost savings.

A customer-centric business, says Dodds, should be “omni-channel” – delivering a seamless experience and consistent messaging across all customer channels – whether a customer interacts with a person or a bot, via your website, mobile app, social media, messaging platform or in real life!

To deliver omni-channel, businesses need to think about the customer ecosystem supporting interaction. What are the touchpoints, and what are the systems and platforms behind them? How can we share and personalise information across these systems and platforms – within the business and with partners - to better serve our customers?

Integration of platforms is key, and Dodds outlined the concept of a “customer operating system” – where enterprise services are extended across all customer-facing functions – as a useful mechanism for framing transformation and prioritising investment in digital transformation.

Data is a strategic asset

Information is a critical dimension of digital transformation. New business/monetisation models and “on-time” customer insights are the leading competitive differentiators in the digital economy, reports IDC. Data is everything, and analytics tools delivering customer and business insights, fast, can help deliver a more consistent, more personalised, more satisfying customer experience.

Dodds also mentioned that he expects data to become a balance sheet item in the future, given the value of information-centric companies lies mainly in the data they own. And because of that value, data security will be a growing concern for all businesses.